Rising Atmospheric CO2 Levels

Since the Industrial Revolution, the concentration of CO2

in the atmosphere has been increasing as a result of the
burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Scientists estimate
that the average CO2 concentration in the atmosphere
before 1850 was about 274 ppm. In 1958, a monitoring station began taking very accurate measurements
on Hawaii’s
Mauna Loa peak, a location far from cities and high enough
for the atmosphere to be well mixed. At that time, the CO2
concentration was 316 ppm (Figure 56.28). Today, it is
around 400 ppm, an increase of more than 40% since the
mid-19th century. In the scientific skills exercise, you
can graph and interpret changes in CO2 concentration that
occur during the course of a year and over longer periods.
The marked increase in the concentration of atmospheric
CO2 over the last 150 years concerns scientists because of
its link to increased global temperature. Much of the solar
radiation that strikes the planet is reflected back into space.
Although CO2, methane, water vapor, and other greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere are transparent to visible light,
they intercept and absorb much of the infrared radiation
Earth emits, re-reflecting some of it back toward Earth. This
process retains some of the solar heat. If it were not for this
greenhouse effect, the average air temperature at Earth’s
surface would be a frigid -18°C (-0.4°F), and most life as we
know it could not exist.